Travel to Africa's savanna for "Big Game's Big Game" where positions the rhino played were "nose-guard" and "tight-end." Enjoy a humorous nod to those who use antlers in their decorating in "Forgive Her Trespasses" and "Swapping Rooms." In "The Society for the Preservation of the Billabong," discover what Australian animals stash in their pockets. Each poem gives a nod to a Bible phrase or event.

Through the middle of a cornfield with its ripe and golden grain, ‘round a waist-high prairie meadow wound a pot-hole riddled lane. It was there a shallow puddle where a sign read, “Zoned – No wake,” (named with hopeful aspirations)was the pond called Mammoth Lake.

Now the puddle, at its broadest point was scarcely ten feet wide, and submerged within its shallow depths a catfish did reside. A well-educated catfish for he’d memorized the rules so he’d graduate—top of his class at Small Fry Catfish School.

In an undisclosed location somewhere in China’s wall, a most peculiar baker labored dawn to post-nightfall. This surreptitious baker used fortune and good luck to craft world-famous dishes; his name was Peking Duck. So skilled in Asian cooking this waterfowl’d become— the multi-tasking Peking Duck could wok while chewing gum.

Abutting an abandoned barn, a crib devoid of corn, with weathervane and cupola, the rooftop, sagged and worn. The corncrib was repurposed by fowl society, a chicken troupe—Barred Plymouth Rocks, the white variety.

Bandleader of the feathered group,
This five-fowl poultry show,
A southern bird of Creole stock
Was dubbed Ole Chick’ Gumbo.

Ole Gumbo plucked the banjo strings,
On French horn — Cordon Bleu,
With Kiev on percussion,
And Lo Mein played kazoo.

A seashore near the ocean where
The breakers scattered foam,
A turtle dwelt with two small friends—
The sandy beach their home.
“Benevolence”—their motto,
Marine Society
Of turtle, clam, and hermit crab—
Companions by the sea.

The turtle’s shell – beguiling—
Chartreuse with flecks of puce,
But flawed—a leak predicament—
Her shell, a trifle loose.
Her faulty home let in a draft
When ocean breezes blew,
The gusts that wafted ‘round felt like
El Niño swirling through.

This collection of light verse, written by Iowa native Beth LaBuff, will delight anyone who has lived on, visited, or even seen a picture of a farm. You'll laugh as you read about a corn crib that was repurposed by fowl society in "Barred Plymouth Rock Band," and learn what made a catfish sweat in "Catfish on a Hot Tin Roof." Perfect for family reading, each poem gives a nod to a Bible phrase or event.